UNSC Top Secret
by KaneBuddy
Summary: A video recording discovered by UNSC forces details what happened to Captain Roger Maxson during the battle for Draco III. Will be about three chapters long, read and review.
1. Ohhh, What A Lucky Man

0534 HOURS, SEPTEMBER 28TH 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) RESEARCH FACILITY 251 IN MARS STUDY CENTER.

UNSC Top Secret – Eyes Only.

Any reproduction of the material to be shown is a federal offense punishable in the court of law by a minimum fifty years in prison and $10,000 fine.

Following this message is audio/visual recording. Artifact number 00023546690

The following recording has restricted access and will remain Top Secret in Area 251 of the Sol Covenant Study Center until fifty years following the end of the Human-Covenant War.

Eighteen digit alphanumeric authorization code required for further admittance. Please enter now…

Welcome Jack Ommani. Please clear the room of unauthorized personnel before proceeding. Once this order has been carried out in full, please press /Y/.

- Y -

No mention of the materials yet to be seen may be made until fifty years after the end of the Human-Covenant War, or until sanctioned by the UNSC Council.

Do you wish to continue? … Y/N?

- Y -

The Recording you are about to watch is the Audio/Visual Diary of one: Capt. Roger Maxson – Army Group Two of Draco III Planetary Defense. Visual recordings have been partially impaired. Visual recording may not play.

Do you wish to continue? … Y/N?

- Y -

* * *

The screen on the desk filled with static and white noise for several seconds. Felix Ommani stared at Max. He was young, only twenty-five. He had brown hair and eyes that seemed eager to watch the video. His mouth however was set in an emotionless crease. He seemed all too lively compared to the other day in the bar when they first met and discussed the video. Ommani was all too glad to share the information with Max.

Max stared at Ommani. He was a black man with a slight gut developing with the onset of middle age and his hair was already graying around the temples. He had a lab coat on over his jeans. His dirty sneakers testified that he wasn't the type to stay in the lab all day studying things. He was twitching nervously and looking around the room –a small lab with nothing much besides the desk, a computer in the far corner, a fern by the wall, and a table, futon, and stool piled up in front of the door-

"I assure you, this is all normal, it always plays static for about thirty seconds before starting up. There it goes."

* * *

The screen went black and then showed a picture of a man in his middle thirties. He had brown hair, brown eyes, and light skin that was tanned, but not brown. He had a pair of camo pants on and a green tank top that showed he usually wore t-shirts when he stayed outside. His muscled arms were very pale above the bicep and very tanned below. He was standing in the barracks of an army base, several people were milling around behind him carrying plates of food.

A string of letters and numbers appeared in the bottom left-hand corner: January 28th 2542, 8:52 A.M. 'Happy Founding Day!'

"Heh, finally got the helmet-camera to work. I call it Roger-vision." He turned around and motioned to the men behind him. "Hey Guys! You wanna be on my first video? My wife and son back in the city will finally be able to see the freaks I work with."

"Hardy Har Har Roger. I'll show you a freak!" a man outside the screen threw a doughnut at him, hitting him in the shoulder. Roger picked the doughnut up and began munching away.

"Seriously guys, come over here or I'll pick it up and bring the camera to you."

Someone yelled back "I dare you!"

"Fine then" he looked back into the camera, pointed to the side and rolled his eyes "See what I have to deal with here Honey?" his arms reached for the camera and picked it up. He pointed it at a nearby table filled with 5 soldiers chowing down on their food and walked over.

A burly man with a moustache sitting at the end of the table spoke up, "Hey Rog, did you know that they're serving us seafood for founding day?"

"You serious Frank?" said the man sitting across from him, "I thought we were having a barbecue."

"It's seafood" he opened his mouth and pointed in "See Food! Hahaha! I never get tired of that."

"That's sick, Frank."

"Awww, you guys don't know how to have any fun."

The screen blanked out again. A small burst of static, and the picture came back, the corner now read: January 28th 2542, 10:23 P.M. 'Happy Founding Day!'

The video stayed fairly dark for a few seconds, then the outline of mountains in the distance became apparent, stars began appearing, and the video bounced up and down in time with the sound of footsteps. Roger's voice broke the almost complete silence. "Man, the stars are beautiful tonight. I don't know why the Covenant want to kill us when the universe is so full of interesting and amazing things. I guess I wouldn't care all that much if you became a pacifist, son. I'd rather you become a soldier and defend humanity, but it wouldn't really matter. Oh look!" his hand could be seen in front of the camera now, "They're starting the fireworks early." Large blue streaks could be seen high up in the sky. They were followed by huge red, orange, and white explosions. "Wait a second, something's not right." Roger sounded extremely worried, "Those weren't fireworks." The sound of Velcro being torn open followed, and Roger spoke again, "This is Captain Maxson to Base commander, do you read me? Over."

A hiss and crackle, and then an extremely annoyed-sounding man answered, "I'm here Roger. Over."

"Please don't tell me those explosions were what I think they were."

"I was just going to sound the alarm when you radioed in. Get back to base immediately." The radio clicked off.

"Dammit!"

The screen went black once more.


	2. For Country And King

**Author's Note - Thank you so much for the review (notice it is singular, meaning only one of you isn't so lazy that he won't review). The story should be wrapping itself up in about three chapters or so (I.e three weeks) so review while you have the chance. Also, if you like this story, you'll love my other story _Total Eclipse At Dawn_**

* * *

Chapter 2 - Bad News, Bad DaysMax was staring intently at the screen. It was as if the whole world had melted away, and the screen was the only thing left. Ommani was much less interested in what was happening on the video. He kept looking nervously to the door behind him, from which, muffled knocks and shouts could be vaguely heard. He turned back to the screen, but kept an eye on the door also.

* * *

_January 28__th__ 2542, 11:00 P.M. 'Red Alert Status'_ is what the screen now said in the corner. Either the camera had been blocked, or this part of the video was corrupted, but whatever the case was, the screen was black except for the date and time. The audio still worked though, and a voice filled with authority boomed through the speakers. 

"Well, Men and Women," the voice called, "The Covenant has found us. They are making quick work of our defending warships, and Commander Bragg is doing his best to buy us some more time. The three ships not destroyed in the initial assault have dispatched their Marines, and they will be landing within the minute. They are going to help us defend the spaceyards which must be kept intact at all costs. The getaway ships which are stationed there must be kept intact for the civilians. If there are any left after all civilians have left," The man paused and took a deep breath, "We will begin to evacuate the soldiers." He lingered once more, before adding, "You can tell your Companies and Platoons your specific orders, but be quick. We have only so much time before they send in their ground troops."

The video clicked, and the time changed to_: January 28__th__ 2542, 11:15 P.M. 'Red Alert Status'_

The screen was still black, but after a series of loud thumps, a burst of static and white noise came forth and stayed there for five seconds before disappearing once more. The screen opened up to show bright work lights shining down on soldiers filling up sandbags and digging trenches.

Someone not in view said calmly, "Our Marine reinforcements have landed Captain." In a slightly more worried voice, he added, "About half of them didn't make it all the way down. We expect the Covenant will land their forces in full strength within five minutes, so about a quarter of those that landed probably won't have a chance either. Out of the two thousand they sent down, probably only seven-fifty will reach our defenses."

Maxson raised his hand to his head and stroked his chin. He turned around to face the man who spoke. He wore the single bar of a lieutenant, and a worried expression. "Alert the base commander, tell him that he better send those men some air support if he wants any useful numbers to get here."

The Lieutenant nodded and ran off to the radio tent. Maxson looked up to the sky; meteor showers could be seen lighting up the sky as far as the eye could see. The showers weren't made out of rocks though; these ones were bits and pieces of the ships that had been destroyed in orbit. The Lieutenant returned quickly, and gave Maxson the news, "The Brass says the air support is tied up, but they can spare a couple Longswords and Shortswords, and maybe half a dozen Hornets."

"Alright", Maxson sighed, "get them to the Marine's LZ and have them escort the soldiers to the nearest defensible zone."

The Lieutenant nodded and turned around to come face to face with a private who immediately saluted and opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, Maxson shouted out, "Get that hand down boy! This is a combat zone!"

Nothing happened for a split second, and then a purple beam flashed, and the lieutenant crumpled to the floor like a rag doll. The private nearly jumped out of his skin, screaming "Holy Hell!"

Maxson muttered to himself, "My God, they've landed already."

_January 29__th__ 2542, 12:03 A.M. 'Planetwide Evacuation Underway'_

The view on the screen showed a lot of dirt, blood, and bodies, Maxson was crouching down in one of the half-completed trenches, talking on his radio. "What do you mean you don't know what happened to the marines? All one thousand of them were standing in the center of that bloody field!"

The voice on the other side sounded very stressed, and on the verge of breakdown, "Well Captain Maxson, you tell me how I'm supposed to know where they are when I have no satellites in the sky, and no radio towers taller than forty feet!" he started breathing very deeply, "We've only got maybe thirty-two percent of the city off-planet Roger. The western perimeter already fell, they sent in two Scarabs and probably thirty Wraiths. The surviving soldiers are skirmishing them, but I suspect that Westport will fall within the hour. All remaining reserves are going directly into the city to fight, so you won't get any more help, so just…" the voice made a slight gagging noise and he said in a shocked whisper, "Goodbye." The radio immediately burst into static. The camera swiveled around, and Maxson was now looking at a group of Banshees strafing a building in the far distance.


End file.
